Beneath her stage name “Halsey,” Ashley Frangipane is an eccentric human being with a vigorous passion for utilizing her vocal cords to express her introverted self. 

In mid-September, the American singer-songwriter revealed that her upcoming 2020 album Manic is a tribute to no one but herself. The sixteen songs included in her debut each portray different stories filled with anger, resentment, mournfulness, and adoration. 

When Manic popped up on my Spotify web player, I don’t think I’ve ever popped my AirPods in quicker. The first song in her album is “Ashley” which is a song regarding her tough past. Halsey considers Ashley as a whole different person when in reality it is just her birth-name. When she says, “I’m so committed to an old ghost town,” she is deliberately trying to move on from her past. 

She yearns to leave ‘Ashley’ behind and truly become ‘Halsey,’ and with that, I believe composing this album offered a huge hand to that wish.

Halsey gave a sneak peek to her future album by releasing a few songs here and there, one of them being “clementine.” This melody was released on her twenty-fifth birthday back in September; this song held a part of her heart. 

It is a bit more complex than it appears—she is highlighting specific parts of her mental disposition in general. The repeated line throughout the song reads, “I don’t need anyone,” and Halsey delivers this line with independence. The tune and lyrics reflect her vulnerability and how it has grown along with her career. 

Earlier when I mentioned that Manic consists of four main emotions, “Forever … (is a long time),” embodies one: anger. When listening, you can feel the madness in Halsey’s tone. When she says, “You cut me open, sucked the poison from an aging wound,” this line is referring to someone important hurting her. However, the song takes a turn when the lyrics halt and a beautiful interlude is brought to life. It is a moment of peace from her anger—an intermission to some extent. However, the song then resumes the lyrics — softer yet still resembling anger. 

Subsequently, her very last song in her album “929” is definitely the most alluring. Her intro to the song is her simply conversing; she recites the coincidental fact that she was born at 9:29 on 9/29.

This song is like no other.

To add to the importance of this composure, Halsey got a tattoo showing the number “929” on her hand. The lyrics are reflective, once again, of her past. Within the song, she tells the world about her absent father and their relationship. She proceeds to elaborate on all of the things that have gone wrong in her life—the events that affected her the most. 

On the more positive side, Halsey repeatedly says how she is trying to improve her life indefinitely; she is trying to distance herself from her dark past. When she says, “I’ve got a long way to go until self-preservation/ think my moral compass is on vacation,” she is emphasizing that she is aware of how much time this requires and how her morals have changed.

Manic contains sixteen meaningful songs that each have their own personal definition and unique attributes to them. Halsey is still in search of salvation, but morphing all of her feelings into this album has doubtlessly accompanied that forever hope.